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Arc I • The Straits of Oblivion
Chapter 1: The Land With No Name Children of the Sea *The party wakes up shackled against the face of a cliff. * They have no memory of how they got here. The skies are ominous with heavy clouds, pouring rain and spewing thunder. * Soon after, a number of harpies come and untie them, dragging their broken bodies on the dirt. * They move them into a rocky, mountainous complex of ravines and crags. They drop them in a stony chamber, within a cave complex. * They are fed at times and left alone. * Deciding to escape, they fight a pair of harpies and overcome them. * In another chamber they find some gold and silver coins, mundane gear, and their own complete inventory they remember having before all this. * They eventually fought all harpies and their leader, managing to free themselves. * The party searched the whole complex, clearing out a final chamber containing bone decoration, a 7-foot-tall stone statue of an unknown warrior, a shaft on the ceiling, a black-boned skeleton tied against the wall, and a sacrificial magical spear of wood and carved bone. * Hidden under the statue was a dug pit with some more gold coins, bones, stones, and a piece of fabric with the Redsea Trading Company insignia on it. * They climbed down the plateau and started walking toward a possible exit. * Crossing this strangely unoccupied series of crags and caves, the party managed to find its way out of this place and into the hills beyond. The Naked Hills * The party chose to stay clear of the misty rainforest that lay ahead, and started moving across a line between the mountainous area they left behind and the jungle. * These hilly terrain was for the most part empty, though some foraging was done, and they had to sleep outside under the rain in an unstable makeshift camp. * The following days they kept circling around the jungle, while still foraging what they could and staying clear of the mountains. * Eventually, they had no choice but to start scaling some heights again, straining them to the limits. * Battling the constant soak and relentless wind, they were lucky enough to spend some nights in caves, keeping a limited fire, but staying dry and secure. * Eventually they find out that they cannot escape the jungle, for it now spreads to cover hill and mountain alike, forcing them to enter though they try to keep as close to the cliffs overlooking the sea as possible. The Dangers of the Blood Valley * Once within the jungle, pretty much everything else beyond the walls of trunks, vines, and foliage is hidden from the party. * At times the pair of familiars help, but they share the same limitations as their masters. * They do manage to stumble upon caves still, using them to rest and spend the pitch black nights. * During their first such stay, Orethel wandered around their camp to gather resources, causing her to become lost for she could not track her way back to the cave. * She spent many hours wandering in the dark for a familiar landmark, sapping her of strength and health. * When she realized that a further push could be fatal, she laid down beside a tree to catch her breath. * In a dizzy haze, she witnessed movement in bushes, snakes crawling about, and a remarkably vivid sense of the awakening of the jungle. * At that point, Oruruk's eagle found her, and with the bird's help she found her way back, though it took them a while even as a pair. * Orethel fell ill, and was incapacitated for further travel. * While Dorrel stayed with her, Oruruk and Taliesin discovered another cave close to an hour away. * This place was filled with animal remains and Taliesin left his familiar to check for what manner of creature will return here. * Then, they too could not find their way back. They got lost in the jungle and spend several hours with the help of their familiar to go back to the others, luckily before the nightfall. * The next day, Orethel was feeling better and the whole group was rested. * They picked up their journey across the cliffs, but again found themselves unwillingly into the jungle. * A group of cockatrices charged flying towards them, starting a fight. The party managed to put down all of these monsters, one of then even turning to stone as it died. * Oruruk pointed out that they just escaped a permanent petrification from these creatures by slaying them as quickly as possible. * They found a tree with some kind of magical fruit. * The group had an encounter including Taliesin stepping into a sand pit and a great snake attacking at that point, which they overcame. * The group finds a lost gray orc, named Rathgul. He is in the same situation they are in and joins them. * They are allowed to physically check him, discovering the same holes on his spine as they all have. * At some point within the Blood Valley, a hulking, four-legged beast attacked them fiercely. * The creature is unknown to them, but they managed to defeat it, despite its brute strength. Castaways * The party reached sandy shores and discovered two makeshift huts. * There, they met Rooark, Korom and Benet, three likewise lost duendu who do their best to survive for weeks. * In fear, Benet put an arrow in Taliesin's knee, but the two groups calmed down. * Later on, Rathgul beat Benet senseless as consequence. * Rooark reveals they are the only survivors left of a nearby wreck of a ship, called Orpheus. * He believes that with their help, they can take the chance of mending the ship as best as possible and attempt to leave. But he will not do so without his son, Gorin, who is held captive by some fey creatures that assaulted them when they asked for help. * He needs the party to go look for him, for the feys know his face and won't hesitate to attack again. * The group gets the mast of another ruined ship, and with work and magic by Oruruk, Orpheus was as repaired as it could be. Meeting the Dryads * The party agrees on the Gorin situation and makes its way back into the jungle, until they reached the Blood Grove. * Trees, grass, and flowers, even the rocks and water, carry a red hue about them, adding to the fact that within that place there was no storm or wind and felt like summer. * Two dryads befriended the pair of duendu and led them deeper within where they met a more imposing figure of their kind. * Gorin was held captive indeed, within the roots of a Dren tree, where she resides. * She, tells a different story; Rooark and his kin came here, brutally hunting and cutting down trees, before the dryads scared them off. The feys managed to snatch the child and keep him, in order to prevent the intruders from marauding again. * The child seems peaceful and the party decides to leave it there. * The dryad leader offers them to stay in the grove for one night of rest, but no more than that. * They accept and the previous two dryads reappeared, feeding them some kind of fruit that sated their hunger for a full day. * Taliesin teasing them, summoned the fey presence. * The dryads were terrified and run away, while Orethel was charmed by the creature that appeared. * Shortly after the leader appeared tossing them Gorin, and sending them away. * She furiously said that they had three days to escape the island, else they would die here. * The party took the boy and headed back. * They all then loaded the ship with whatever they had, and took the ship to water. Escaping the Nameless Island * After one full day at sea, they escaped the storm. * Behind them, they could see an ominous wall of yellowish-gray mists, creeping as far as the eye could see. * Still, the water became calmer, and the temperature friendlier. * During the night, Rooark took on the form of a wererat and, with the help of his two human lackeys, attacked the party while they slept. * Rooark ended up being the only survivor, tied and unconscious. * Though most insist on killing him, Orethel talks them out of it and saves Rooark's life. * Oruruk and Taliesin perform studies on him and make notes. * Taliesin made some sort of agreement with Rooark. Chapter 2: Fatespinners Out of the Oblivion Sea *The party still journeys across the Oblivion Sea, and closes in towards an island. *A group of Kuo-Toa raid the ship, jumping from the ocean. *Taliesin performs a fey presence, damaging the ship. The fight is won. *The ship took too much damage, eventually sinking. *The party used flotsam as makeshift boats, carrying them to a beach on the island. The Remote Woodsmen *There they discovered a group of mistrustful humans. The party finds out that this is Nyree island and that these people there are natives. *All but one; a white woman called Isabele Doria Tainama claims she is from Vorgis and married to a man here, Koro Tainama. *Isabele speaks of the curse that befell the island and asks their help with Panga, a fierce monster scorpion that feasts on people. *Isabele keeps the Eightcross in her house. The natives do not know Tradespeak and their beliefs are unclear. *The party meet and join with the green goblin called Gecko Muckbucket. Panga the Terror *The party agrees and the natives perform a ritual, uncluding the sacrifice of a malformed baby, the son of Isabele called Raipe. *The party is given a soup, said to protect them from the beast. *The party moves in the jungle and find Panga. They fight it and subdue it, but not before it managed to gruesomely slay Dorrel. *The party sever Panga's sting. *They return with the beast to find the natives angry and disappointed. Isabele says they needed the sting and that now they cannot complete the cleansing ritual. *The party leaves them, by choosing to move north through a barely wide enough path. Reaching Belmora *The party arrives in Belmora. *They, for the most part, stay either at the Easthome inn, or outside the gates. *They discover that no one can travel to and from this island, due to a strange whirlpool phenomenon blocking the passage to the mainland. *People associate this to the other sightings around the island, such as dead flora or fauna. They deem the spirit of the island angry, a religion older than the Twin Sisters most locals revere now. *Taliesin spends some time in the cells of the Reeve's estate, under Aes Qintari guard, being a suspect of the murder of a guard. *Taliesin is interrogated by the captain of the guard and also a priest of Mezharun. He is eventually let go, free of charges. Orethel's First Telling *Orethel gets in trance and has hallucinatory visions. *She is in the same place, but clearly discerns four tree archways before her. A white fox stands before the closest one, and glances at her once. She tries, but cannot cross the first arch. Shrine of the Cycle *The party visit a lone priest of the Twin Sisters named Zezalem Bazin Ebissa about an hour outside Belmora, whom the people seem to respect and listen to. *Zezalem appears as an old man that has trouble even moving, but then he changed posture and voice when some entity takes over his body, speaking through him. *The voice demands respect, insinuating it belongs to something powerful and otherwordly. *The voice has a task for the party, noting that the voice "expected the elf". The voice does not reveal the task before they agree to do it. *They all agree, but Oruruk and Gecko. A Shady Task *The voice says they are to take a bone dagger from this place (which Zezalem offers), and go to Ulma in Belmora (the herbalist). She is to tell them what they need to do. When the deed is done, they must collect the payment of Ulma, and bring it back to the shrine, where they will receive their reward. *The party moves back to Belmora, and meet Ulma . *She explains that the spirit of Nyree is physically trapped to a monstrous dead tree, somewhere north of here, within the Marked Jungle. She says the spirit causes all the trouble on the island, for it is bitter with anger toward its people for allowing the island to be conquered by the Aes Qintari. They are to go there and destroy the spirit, then return to her. *The party moves north. The Wounded Grove *At some point the green, lush jungle tranforms into a red version of itself. *A few yards into that territory, Gecko and Oruruk cannot proceed, for an invisible obstacle physically holds them out. *The remaining three venture in, and encounter five Blood Apes who speak and tell them to turn back. Those apes seems to have halos of distorting, colorless energy. *The party claims they have to proceed and the party ends up killing them all but one who is subdued. *At that point, the obstacle way back is dropped, and the two can rejoin the group. *Further in, they end up in a dead grove. The soil seems dead as do the trees around them. One of them is remarkably larger than the rest, a dead Dren tree, mostly blackened with patches of red bark. The Spirit of Nyree *The party meets Makuru there, the spirit-god of Nyree. He appears as a huge snake with a human head. Several wounds mark his body, and at some part the bone can be seen inside. *Initially the party attacks, but then they get to converse, before either him or the party gets hurt. *Makuru claims that the Twin Sisters came before the Aes Qintari (who Makuru had never heard of). The Twins had an army and a butcher leading them, a man called Zezalem, responsible for the destruction of natural habitats and the death of many animals and local creatures. The Twins then bound Makuru here, to slowly drain his power, for one or two centuries now. Eventually, the people forgot and converted to revering the Twin Sisters. *Makuru wants revenge in the form of Zezalem's death. *The party returns to Belmora to think on matters. The Final Call *They decide to inform the Aes Qintari guard of the events, accusing Zezalem of the troubles. *At night a few guards arrest Ulma. *The next day bells ring and a crowd gathers on the street. *The Reeve appears, as well as the captain and several guards. These guards raise a tall stake and guard it afterwards. *Later, they carry Zezalem out and move him to the top of the stake, where they plunge a metal hook into his back. The priest of Mezharun appeared then with a torch of white flame, and set the wood ablaze. Much to the disappointment and outcry of the locals, Zezalem burned alive at the stake, leaving nothing but bones. The skeleton remained on display for three days. A Reeve's Gratitude *The Reeve has the party over for lunch, thanks, and rewards. *Taliesin uses the following days till the ships leave to get acquainted with the Reeve called Kalemos Galanus, a distant cousin of the Rhaenn of Vorgis, Gororion Skyhorn Icarothius. *They share food, drinks, and bed, participating in orgies and sensual theatrics. *Finally, the Reeve offered him and his friends a cabin in a ship called Larventhus and a letter of recommendation to his friend Karakan, a kenku in Vorgis. Chapter 3: Bones Dragon Visit *The party boarded Larventhus, and went on their way to the mainland. *They are actually supposed to arrive in Enpyria, a hamlet that serves as an entry point to the Blackridge province. *On the way, they encountered a dragon flying out of the sea, possibly hunting aquatic game. It did not approach the ship. *The captain was thankful and fierce on moving on. *The party arrived on the docks outside Enpyria, and moved uphill to the main hamlet. Family Visit *At the local inn, called Crestsong, they encountered several figures. *One was Gaath, the green orc bard (who played music there), and Bruk, his also green orc bodyguard. *Another was Tulku, the female krell innkeep, and Karra, her gaterat helper. *Finally, they met Agatha Ludrych Suanche and her traveling companion Madeleth Luminar. *After catching up and meeting everybody, Agatha informed the party of trouble and asks something of them. *Romilus Aberus, the local reeve, was kidnapped at some point yesterday during his survey of the villages, and his whole guard was found killed. *Bentar, a duendu boy found them by accident on the path west. *Agatha wants them to go out there, since there is no soldier to be around there soon, and find him. *She also informs them that they have two days before the convoys start for Vorgis. *During the night, Taliesin, Rathgul, and Oruruk head out to that scene. *Gecko stays around the inn, and then sleeps in a room. Orethel's Second Telling *Orethel seeks solace on the jungle outside the inn, where she goes in trance and has a hallucinatory vision. *She is someplace else, where she sees the world in shades of gray, from pitch black to pale. She is standing on a tall, naked hill, where she can see miles upon miles of black jungle, as far as the eye can see. In Eastwood *Meanwhile, the three find the attack sight and fight off a few dust mephits. *After scouting for clues around the broken wagon and the bodies, they head north into the Eastwood, towards the Greenwall Mountains. *After several hours, they reach the end of the trail they've been following, leading into the wall of a hill, with no obvious entry point. *Turning back, they follow a different trail and find the body of an Aes Qintari acolyte of Mezharun. *They find his journal still in his partially ruined sack. *Almost morning now, they decide to rest nearby and summon the other two via the familiars. *The party joined up and headed for the hills once more. *On the way they were ambushed by kobolds and their pet bear, who the party easily dispatched. *The kobold named Ruthul told them he is a hunter of the Broktooth Clan. *Once back at the end of the tracks, they discover a relatively small cave mouth, forty feet over their heads. *They climb up and clear some rubble, revealing an entrance into a complex. The Jade Grotto * The party entered the caves, fighting off some aggressive plant creatures, that Oruruk recognized as a couple of vine blights and a violet fungus. * They find clues and marks that leads them to believe this place was a mine once. * They discover a secret exit from the complex. * While searching deeper, they come across undead for the first time (save for Rathgol). Moving skeletons and bodies of rotting flesh attack them fiercely. Orethel realizes a new power within her, and drives some of them away by her sheer power of will. The party destroys the rest of them. * Looking around, they discover another hidden passage that leads further inside. * They find a chamber with a sealed well and large, orange mushrooms. * Further in and to the right, they find what appears to be a kitchen. * To the left, they discover an area that looks like makeshift barracks, and a number of men inside laying about or playing a game of cards. They saw weapon racks also, beds, a table and chairs, and purple banners with a black skull on the walls. * They decide to lure wait until one comes out, and indeed one does. * They attack him but during the fight he swallows a liquid from a vial, and dies shortly after. * The party do the same to another and force him to talk. He remains solemn and silent, and Taliesin suffocates him when he is certain he won't be of any help. * They fight the rest of the people there, which included warriors, priests and archers. * They obtained two vials of the apparent poison, and another container which they believe to be the antidote. * When the party spent some time in the barracks, a tiefling appeared with a hulking undead beast. He told them to leave this place, and when the party refused, a battle ensued. * After a tough fight, the beast was destroyed and Rathgol died of the many wounds he suffered. The Aes Qintari that apparently controlled the beast, was left alive and Taliesin was obsessed on getting information from him. * While the party licked their wounds and tended to Rathgol, Taliesin took the tiefling in the kitchen and brutally tortured him. * After some time, Rathgol came back to life, but his appearance was severely changed. * At some point during Taliesin's efforts to get information, the spectre of his fey presence appeared and hovered away from him. Oruruk saw that the spirit left the complex and moved into Eastwood and out of sight. * As soon as the spirit left, a white puff of smoke escaped the Aes Qintari's mouth and he died. * The party started to leave, when Taliesin's familiar noticed that they did not know where their last enemies came from. * The party searched the place better, and discovered yet another secret passage that led into a large chamber. The black skull banner was here too, as was a heap of blackened bones, a medium-sized black skeleton and a small-sized white one. A couple of books and a letter were found too, and some stashed items and gold. Also, in this room and elsewhere in the complex, an intricate symbolism was found marked on the floor. * Romilus Aberus was also found, naked and weak, trapped inside a large barrel. He was released and required some immediate rest in order to move out. * During that time, the party discovered a hidden cave with a skeleton wearing a chainmail and some precious stones. * After some time, the party left with the Reeve, and walked through the night for Enpyria. Return to Enpyria * They reached Crestsong, and arranged with the gaterat for a room for Romilus. * Everyone went to their rooms to rest, and Orethel was charged with guarding a Aes Qintari they captured from the complex. * Apparently, that man managed to loose the ropes on his wrists enough to move his hands and drink the poison he had on him, the party had not discovered. * He died and Orethel summoned Oruruk to inspect him, telling him what happened. * Oruruk discovered that the captive's throat was shut and that he probably suffocated. * Together, they carried him outside and into the jungle, where Oruruk opened up his abdomen and head, checking on his organs and bones. They realize his bones are all black, save for the most part of his teeth, which were still white. They carried the body a bit further into Eastwood, and abandoned him there for the animals. * They returned to the inn to rest once more. Chapter 4: Domain of the Hunter The Next Morning * To be continued...